I’m late with my not-so-live blogging directly from the Web 2.0 Expo NY. Scarcity of power sources, poor MacBook Pro battery life, real world socializing and a desperate need for some sleep were all to blame.

The first session I attended yesterday was Lane Becker’s Customer Service Is The New Marketing. He jokingly promised upfront to deliver the best session of the Expo, and he managed to do pretty much that, or close. Here’s my disorganized notes I took during his talk – usual disclaimer applies (not what the presenter said, but what I think he said):

Zappos.com is the first online shopping company to give Amazon a run for their money. One of the differentiators was the free returns: you have 365 days to return products, so one can buy 3 pairs, check which one is the right size and return the others. Lane told a story about a blogger who had a very good experience with them, after having a problem returning shoes due to a death in the family situation. She even got flowers sent to her, what must be a first by an online retailer.

Zappos is “A customer service company that happens to sell shoes”.

Their CEO twittered once that he was “unshowered”.

Then he showed Maslow’s hierarchy of Customer Service based on Chip Conley’s work:

Top: Meets unrecognized needs (Transformation) -> creates evangelism

Middle: Meets desires (Success) -> creates commitment

Bottom: Meets Expectations (Survival) -> creates satisfaction

Loyalty = Profits

Most companies cannot afford what Zappos does.Every person in the organization you work in the call center. The higher you are in the hierarchy, the more often you have to go back to the call center.